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Monday, January 23

Diverse Characters - A + B

Welcome to the third new feature on my blog! This one will hopefully help writers and push them to use more diverse characters in their work.

INTRODUCTION:

There’s been a lot of talk about adding diverse characters
to fictional books. Most of the time, this is about including people of color
if you’re a Caucasian writer, but all writers can add diverse characters to
their books. And why stop at race? In this series, I’m going to list all sorts of diverse characters.

Note: I'm not knowledgeable about all types of people, so I'm skipping my usual tips in favor of letting others share their knowledge. See below.**I won't be able to list them all, so here's a list of ethnic groups...with a list of even more lists at the bottom of the page. lol

One major tip for writing diverse characters is ditching whatever preconceptions you might have about race, religion, sex, etc. Because all that is just distinguishing factors. Just write your characters as real people.A- a person or group performing acapellaB- individuals suffering from bulimia

Awesome list of examples! I have written about a Leprechaun with Alzheimer’s, alluded to canine alcoholism, and have unabashedly confessed to an innate adoration of babies ;-) Having enjoyed this post, I’m now considering a story about an Alaskan Eskimo Fortune Cookie writer – thanks, Chrys!

I have diverse characters in many of my books. Since my books are mostly set in the future, I usually treat that diversity as something so accepted, it's not really remarked upon. It just is. Hopefully, the future will really be like that.

I have one young Aspie, who was born in 1994 and thus won't have to grow up and get as far into adulthood as I did before finally having the condition's existence confirmed. Incidentally, most of us in the neurodiversity community prefer identity-first language (e.g., an autistic, an Aspie) over person-first language (person with autism, person who has Asperger's). It's an integral part of our identity, something that makes us who we are, not something we consider a disability or disease. It's different from saying, e.g., a person with cancer or someone who has Down Syndrome.

I have one amputee character so far, who lost part of his arm during the Battle of Saipan, in a very similar way to the late Senator Daniel Inouye. Another character will become a leg amputee after serving in another war.

I have A-holes and Bitches to add:) I could never write about someone who is African American, Asian, Native American, Inuit or anyone else on this planet that is a minority because I would just do them an injustice. I am a white, blonde gal who has no clue except I what I read and what I watch but I can't feel their plight or emotions. Now if I can be allowed to write about a purple alien who contracted aids while having sex with an Amish woman and is now on the run because the bigots have found out he actually comes from the planet Bluto, well, I'm all in.

I like writing about regular people instead of rich, successful, and royalty people. I think that is diversity too. I always try to put color in my cast. Recently read an interesting book where the hero was missing an arm. It was a strange and beautiful story.

This is a great list. In a new story that's forming in my mind the main character is leaning toward being a character of diversity. I need to do some research, but I'm liking the idea of what he'll be like.

In his book, Writing the Block Buster Novel, Ken Follett has a great chapter on just this which I try to stick to. It's so easy to characterise just by using quirks of the people around us. It's so interesting to learn about people we don't know much about. :-)

I don't specifically look for "diverse" characters to put in my stories. A lot of my stories have diverse characters because there are so many present in life. I rarely have them as main characters though. Soon it will be impossible to sell stories without them.

Love this list - thanks for sharing. I love that there's more of a push on diverse characters in books nowadays. I was about to ask if 'British' could be on your list but then I realized it was - we Brits are awesome ;)

I think it'd be interesting to tell a story from a blind person's point of view, because then the focus on what people look like wouldn't be included in the blind person's narrative. Instead, it would focus on all the other things that they learn about the world due to their other senses.

So... If that's what you consider diverse, I'm actually doing okay. Actually, the MC of my WIP is Hispanic, and the daughter of an illegal immigrant living in NYC. My worry is just being true enough to her culture because that's really a challenge. When you're writing a diverse cast, you have to research and immerse yourself like crazy.

This is a fantastic list! I once had a character, who was Indian (Hindu) and Spanish, and was told it was unrealistic. Except, I am Indian and Spanish . . . so . . . lol. I like diversity, but really dislike when it's forced *just* to check off a list. Great advice here!

It should never be forced, but throughout carefully and for the good of the story. Funny how you wrote about something you know and people said it was unrealistic. Nowadays, I don't think anything is unrealistic when it comes to people's ethnicity.

I can't believe I didn't comment on this the first go-round. So, late, LATE, to the party but I just re-read this and I'm about to re-share it on twitter. I cannot tell you how many crit-group submissions and/or beta readings I've done where EVERY CHARACTER was WASP/straight/able-bodied/etc.. IT'S SO BORING.

Of course, there are reasonable fears behind most of these vanilla characters. No one wants to write a caricature--or worse, a racist/sexist/ableist stereotype. It's not easy, neither is writing a cohesive story. Diverse characterization--like every other aspect of writing--is a skill to develop, not an innate gift from Yoda. Salt is a great seasoning but black pepper, cayenne, cumin, basil, and turmeric will really make your dish come alive. Thanks for sharing, Sis.